Safeguard measures imposed by the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) on European frozen bone-in chicken cuts (expired in March) were found to be inconsistent with the EU-Southern African Development Community Economic Partnership Agreement (EU-SADC EPA) in a report issued by an arbitration panel on 3 August.
This measure, introduced in 2018, took the form of higher tariffs on imports of European frozen bone-in chicken cuts. A few months later, the EU judged that this undermined the provisions of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).
The EU concluded this EPA in 2016 with six countries of the Southern African Development Community: Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa.
The arbitration panel, convened by the EU in 2020, ruled that the measure was not proportionate. It also found that the time period between the investigation and the adoption of measures could not be respected.
The EPA between the EU and the six southern African countries provides that one party can impose safeguard measures on the other if the import of a product seriously disrupts the local industry, and strict conditions must be met before they can be put in place.
Given that the safeguard measures expired in March, no immediate action is required to implement the ruling.
See the report of the arbitration panel: https://aeur.eu/f/2so (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)